How organic agriculture contributes to sustainable development

Organic agriculture can contribute to meaningful socio-economic and ecologically sustainable development, especially in poorer countries. This is due on the one hand to the application of organic principles, which means efficient management of local resources (e.g. local seed varieties, manure, etc.) and therefore costeffectiveness. On the other hand, the market for organic products – at local and international level – has tremendous growth prospects and offers creative producers and exporters in the South excellent opportunities to improve their income and living conditions. Establishing whether organic agriculture is a viable alternative for a particular holding needs to be carried out on a case-by-case basis. What potential does organic agriculture have for solving the problems of hunger and poverty? What can organic agriculture contribute to achieving socially and ecologically sustainable development in poor countries? Central to organic agriculture are promotion of soil fertility, biodiversity conservation (e.g. native flora and fauna), production methods adapted to the locality and avoidance of chemical inputs. These methods, together with cultivation of a diverse range of crops, stabilize the delicate ecosystems in the tropics and reduce drought sensitivity and pest infestation. Organic agriculture reduces the risk of yield failure, stabilizes returns and improves the quality of life of small farmers’ families. To date, no systematic attempt has been made to evaluate the benefits and effects of each system. In 2006, FiBL therefore launched a network of long-term system comparisons in the tropics that aims at examining the contribution of organic agriculture to food security, poverty alleviation and environmental conservation. The article presents this discussion based on experience gained in practice and encompasses the following hypotheses: 1. Organic agriculture is sustainable and diverse; 2. Organic farmers conserve resources; 3. Organic farmers produce more, better-quality products and achieve higher incomes; 4. Organic products provide market access and create added value; 5. Organic agriculture increases self-confidence and mobilizes new partnerships

Organic Citrus: Challenges in Production and Trade

Organic citrus still is a niche and makes about 1-2% of the global citrus production. However, it is increasing year-by-year in parallel with the increasing demand for organic products. Organic citrus offers creative and circumspect producers and exporters excellent opportunities for success. Key success factors are specific know-how, access to production inputs and to markets. The main production areas of organic citrus – oranges, mandarins, grapefruit, limes and lemons – are Latin America, North America, Europe and Near East. Many tropical countries in the Americas are extending organic citrus production. What are the challenges for organic citrus production and trade

Organic Agriculture in Cuba: Managing with Limited Resources

The typical Cuban farming units are large-scale cooperatives, in which farming families are more or less loosely organized. In the low lands, these cooperatives normally specialize in a few products for the market and a higher diversity of self-sufficiency crops. In the mountain areas, these cooperatives produce in diverse agroforestry systems. This is especially the case for the eastern provinces Guantanamo and Santiago. Large-scale plantations were developed by the Spanish and US colonialists, and further developed by the socialist government. After Cuban Revolution in 1959, land was distributed to more than 200’000 small farmer families through the Agrarian Reforms of 1959 and 1963, while 70 percent of the latifundio lands passed over to state control. Since the collapse of the former socialist economic community in the early 1990s, Cuba’s agriculture faces multiple challenges; there is a shortage of agricultural inputs and Cuba’s farmers must learn to be self-sufficient and to manage with their own resources. This results in difficulties to meet Cuba’s production goals. Domestic food markets are periodically under supplied, and export volumes are decreasing. Cuba has the challenging task to increase the output and efficiency of the complete food chain, based as much as possible on locally available resources

How can Organic Agriculture contribute to Sustainable Development?

Organic agriculture can, especially in poorer countries, contribute to meaningful socioeconomical and ecologically sustainable development. On the one hand, this is due to the organic practice, which means management of local resources (e.g. local seed varieties, dung, etc.) and therefore cost effectiveness. On the other hand, the market for organic products — at local and international level — has tremendous prospects for growth and offers to creative producers and exporters from the south some excellent opportunities to improve their incomes and living conditions. As to whether organic agriculture is a viable alternative for a particular holding, is something, which can only be clarified case by case. What are the potentials of organic agriculture for the solution of the hunger and poverty problems? What can organic agriculture contribute to socially and ecologically sustainable development in poor countries? At the core of organic agriculture are the promotion of soil fertility, biodiversity (e.g. native flora and fauna), locally adapted production methods and the renouncement of chemical inputs. Such methods and the cultivation of diverse crops stabilise the delicate ecosystems in the tropics and reduce drought sensitivity or pest infestations. Organic production lowers the risk of yield failure, stabilises returns and therefore enhances food security of small farmer’s families. The author presents examples from international cooperation project and discusses the following hypothesis on the basis of these examples: • Organic agriculture is sustainable and diverse; • Organic farmers conserve resources; • Organic farms produce more; • Organic products provide market access and create added value; • Organic agriculture raises self-confidence and autonomy; • The organic movement mobilises new forces and partnerships. Moreover, the author presents a farming system comparison trial, which is starting in kenia and india in cooperation with FiBl and local partners. The aim of this trial is to analize the contribution of organic agriculture to sustainable development

Bio-Landbau als Chance für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung

Landwirtschaft ist für ärmere Länder oft die wichtigste Einkommensquelle. Die Verbesserung der Lebensqualität und des Einkommens der Landbevölkerung in Entwicklungsländern setzt deshalb eine Verbesserung der Absatzmöglichkeiten lokaler Agrarerzeugnisse und eine Entwicklung der Subsistenzhin zu einer Marktproduktion voraus. Die große Herausforderung für die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit ist es, den Bauern Wege für eine Verbesserung ihrer Anbaumethoden aufzuzeigen, damit sie von den Marktchancen profitieren können – ohne ihre wirtschaftliche Situation zu verschlechtern, ohne neue Abhängigkeiten zu schaffen und ohne die natürlichen Ressourcen zu beeinträchtigen. Dieser Herausforderung muss sich auch der Bio-Landbau stellen.Wie kann er in ärmeren Ländern zu einer sozial und ökologisch nachhaltigen Entwicklung beitragen? Welches sind seine Potenziale für die Lösung des Hunger- und Armutsproblems

Mit Biolandbau aus der Armut

Über Chancen und Grenzen der biologischen Landwirtschaft in der Dritten Wel

Organic agriculture in Cuba: The revolution goes green

Agriculture in post-revolutionary Cuba is based on large-scale, capital-intensive and labour-extensive monocultures. In order to sustain these, the island continually imported fertilizers, pesticides and diesel at subsidized prices from the former Soviet economic aid community, COMECOM. Since this collapsed in the early 1990s, Cuba has suffered from an acute shortage of raw materials. At the same time, the main sales market for Cuban agricultural production has disappeared. Given this situation, agriculture in Cuba faces multiple challenges: Firstly Cuba needs to find new customers, practically overnight. Secondly, its agricultural producers must learn to manage with the little that they themselves have. Thirdly, Cuba needs financial resources to renovate its often out-of-date production facilities

Standards and Regulations

Contents 1 International Standards 1.1 IFOAM Standards 1.2The Codex Alimentarius 2 National and Supranational Regulations 2.1 The EU Regulation on Organic Production 2.2 Other National Regulations 2.3 US and EU Import Procedures 3 Private Standards 4 Relationship to Fair Trade 5 Literatur

Standards and Regulations

Contents 5.1 International Standards 5.1.1 IFOAM Standards 5.1.2 The Codex Alimentarius 5.2 National and Supranational Regulations 5.2.1 The EU Regulation on Organic Production 5.2.2 Other National Regulations 5.2.3 US and EU Import Procedures 5.3 Private Standards 5.4 Relationship to Fair Trade 5.5 Literatur

IFOAM Training Manual: Training Manual for Organic Agriculture in the Humid Tropics

The first IFOAM Training Manual for Organic Agriculture in the Tropics (the Basic Manual) was published in 2004. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) together with partners of the organic movement in the Tropics were commissioned by IFOAM to complete two new training manuals that build on the Basic Manual. The new IFOAM training manuals address the two basic climatic zones of the Tropics, the Arid and Semi-Arid Tropics, and the Humid Tropics. For both new manuals, already existing material was collected, screened and condensed into comprehensive training manuals. Additionally, a large number of farmers, trainers and scientists were asked for their experience. Partner institutions from the Tropics actively collaborated in the development of the manuals. The partners of the manual for the Arid and Semi-Arid Tropics are from Asia (India), Africa (Senegal and Tunisia) and Latin America (Chile). The training manuals contain case studies of organic farming systems, describe successful organic marketing initiatives and offer guidelines for the main crops of the Tropics. With the informative text, transparencies and didactical recommendations the training manuals offer a resource basis for trainers with the idea of encouraging individual adaptation and further development of the material according to need. The training manuals are available on separate CDs in English, French and Spanish. The training manuals were commissioned by IFOAM and funded through its program IFOAM-GROWING ORGANIC II (I-GO II). The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) provided co-funding